Four Movies and a Farmers' Market

I had the craziest weekend. It was somewhat indulgent, which is pretty rare for me. It all started with the new Batman, The Dark Night Rises movie (which I loved), followed up by a movie called Fresh. And then, since I hadn't seen the first two Batman movies, I did a Batman marathon on Sunday and watched Batman Begins and Batman Returns, after I had done some cooking of course!

My friend Chris-Anna has been totally loving Farmers' Markets lately. Not that she never went to Farmers' Markets before, but now she has a new found obsession with eating local. It all happened after she watched this movie Fresh and took a week's vacation to San Francisco, where apparently, everyone is really, really into eating local. Now she's going to two or three Farmers' Markets . . . per weekend.

Read more �

What Should Have Been Cilantro Jalapeno Zucchini Pancakes with Chipotle Sour Cream

I was inspired to make this dish after posting my Links for Latkas last Friday. I wanted to see if you could take the deliciousness of a potato pancake and turn it on its head. Eliminate the frying. Up the veggie quotient. It wasn't too big of a stretch.

Plus, I happened to have a lot of zucchini in my refrigerator that I needed to use up a.s.a.p.

So as the snow fell outside, I was comfortably warm cooking up my own storm this past Saturday morning. I knew I would be serving this dish that evening to my newish next door neighbors. The neighbors where the wife is the phenomenal cook.

The pressure was on.

I thought I would do something really creative and make a casserole out of the pancake ingredients. A kugel if you will.

It worked, but while the resulting dish was delicious, I know that it could have been so much better, although more time consuming, if I had just stuck with straight up pancakes. The casserole lacked the crispiness on all sides that I was craving, so I carefully cut the entire tray into small squares and rebaked all of the pieces.

Luckily, it worked. But you don't need to go through all that hassle. Just make the pancakes from the start!

I'm not sure you'd want to attempt these without the magic of a food processor, but if you've got the muscle (or need a good workout), go right ahead.

Cilantro Jalapeno Zucchini Pancakes with Chipotle Sour Cream
adapted from this recipe

Printable Recipe

1 Tbsp EnerG Egg Replacer
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 pounds zucchini, shredded
1 pound peeled baking potato, shredded
1 small onion (mine was 7 ounces), shredded
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
2 Tbsp chopped chipotle chili, canned in adobo sauce
scant 2 Tbsp finely chopped, seeded jalapeno pepper
2 tsp cumin
4 thinly sliced scallions (mine were on the small side)
1 tsp salt
12 Tbsp garbanzo bean flour

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

In a small bowl, whisk together EnerG Egg Replacer and water.

In a very large bowl, place all ingredients, including egg replacer/water mixture. Stir well to combine ingredients thoroughly.
Spray a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set over medium heat. Drop 1/4 cupfuls of the batter onto the hot skillet and press each mound into a 3-inch pancake. Cook the pancakes until browned and cooked through, about 8 minutes per side. Transfer the latkes to a baking tray and put in the oven to keep warm.

Repeat with the remaining batter. Optional: serve topped with Chipotle Sour Cream.

Chipotle Sour Cream
Not exactly health food, but vegan. Outstanding.

1 12 ounce container Tofutti Sour Cream
2 Tbsp chopped chipotle chili, canned in adobo sauce
Zest of 1 large lime
Juice of 1 large lime

Place all ingredients into a medium bowl and whisk to combine.

These would also make outstanding Vegan appetizers for a party. Just use a tablespoon full of batter as you make the pancakes instead of 1/4 cup. Arrange on a platter and keep warm in the oven. Dollop a bit of the Chipotle Sour Cream on right before serving.

Love, Loss and Zucchini Muffins

We had an awful night last night. Our dear pet rat Miso died unexpectedly. We loved her very much.

It's hard for me to get excited about anything right now. But I had a lot of leftover zucchini in my fridge (from a recipe for zucchini pancakes that is soon to be posted) and as soon as I saw Debby's blog posting of her family's Top Ten Holiday Weekend Dishes I knew just what I was going to do with those zucchini.

My kids have been making zucchini bread with their Great Grandma Dora and now their Great Aunt Viv since the day they were born (well, almost). So naturally, I was a little nervous wondering just how they were going to react to a veganized recipe with 100% whole wheat flour and succanat. But I had nothing to be worried about. The muffins were a major hit!

I made four dozen and the kids delivered care packages to the neighbors. Usually I am worried about gifting healthyish food like this, but I don't think I have anything to worry about with these.

Kid Tested, Kid Approved Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins
adapted from a recipe from Happy Healthy Long Life

Printable Recipe

2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
 2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup soy milk (regular, not lite) or almond milk
3/4 cup applesauce + more if batter is too dry
1 cup organic organic succanat
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups shredded zucchini (about 1 medium zucchini)
2/3 cup good quality vegan chocolate chips
For egg substitute: mix 1 TBS of flax meal + 3 TBS of water--set aside
optional: 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda & cinnamon.

In a medium bowl stir together nut milk, applesauce, succanat, vanilla, & flax/water mixture.

Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture & stir until just combined.

Fold in the shredded zucchini, chocolate chips, & optional walnuts.

Divide batter equally into 12 cup muffin pan lined with cupcake papers. Bake for 25 minutes.

Let cool completely and transfer to zip lock baggies to retain the moisture. Store in refrigerator or freezer.

Have you veganized/healified any long standing family favorites? How did your family react?

Vegan Sweet-n-Sour Superfood Stuffed Cabbage

Lately I've been obsessing about an old country favorite of mine-Stuffed Cabbage. If you've never had it before, it's quite a treat. Originally made with ground beef and white rice as the filling, I think you'll find that my no-oil, no-added-salt, Vegan superfood version doesn't leave anything to be desired.

Some people might consider the preparation of Stuffed Cabbage to be an ordeal. But if you grew up eating it (thanks Mom!) and absolutely miss it now that you are Plant-strong, you might just consider this recipe worth every minute of your time. I know I do.

Like a woman, stuffed cabbage gets even better with age. I served it to a group of friends for dinner on the night that I made it. It was very good. When I ate some leftovers three days later, it was markedly more delicious. I think I actually had a foodgasm.

HGK's Vegan Superfood Stuffed Cabbage

Printable Recipe

1 1/2 cups diced onion
2 cups diced zucchini (1 small zucchini)
5 cups diced mushrooms (16 ounce package, diced)
2 cups cooked whole grain like quinoa, bulgur or brown rice
2/3 cup currants
3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp pepper
1 large head green cabbage
1 recipe Sweet-n-Sour Tomato Sauce
1 apple, peeled and sliced thinly

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Prepare your whole grain if it is not yet cooked.

Prepare a batch of the Sweet-n-sour Tomato Sauce.

Boil a large soup pot full of water. Turn off until you are ready to prepare cabbage leaves.

Place a large saute pan over medium heat. Pour some vegetable broth into the pan to just cover the bottom. Once the broth is bubbling, add the diced onion and stir. Cook until the onion is translucent, stirring frequently. Add a touch more vegetable broth as needed to prevent burning.

Add the diced zucchini and stir. Let cook for three minutes. Add diced mushrooms and stir. Cook, stirring frequently, until zucchini and mushrooms are soft and liquid released from mushrooms evaporates.

Turn off heat. Add cooked grain, currants, walnuts, spices and 1/2 cup of the Sweet-n-sour Tomato Sauce. Stir gently to combine.

Cover the bottom of a 9x13" casserole dish with some of the Sweet-n-sour Tomato Sauce.

Bring the pot of water back to a boil. Carefully cut all the way around the core of the cabbage, as deep as you can go (about 3 inches deep). Carefully place entire head of cabbage into water. Let cabbage boil until the outermost layer is soft and is beginning to come away from the head. You may need to nudge it a little with a pair of tongs. When leaf comes away from the head, use the tongs to lift the leaf out of the water, letting the excess water drain back into the pot.

Keep the rest of the cabbage simmering as you roll each individual cabbage roll.

Lay leaf inside out in the middle of a dinner plate. Holding a paring knife (or other small knife) horizontally, carefully cut away the hard part of the stem. Place a heaping 1/3 cup of the filling onto the lower middle of the leaf. Fold the left and right sides of the leaf over the filling. Roll the cabbage all the way up from the bottom, pushing the left and right sides in if necessary. Place roll into casserole dish.

Repeat process until casserole dish is full of rolls or all of your filling has been used up.

Place apple slices evenly on top of cabbage rolls. Pour remaining Sweet-n-sour Tomato Sauce over rolls and distribute evenly. Bake, covered, at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. Turn heat to 250 degrees and bake for an additional 2 hours.

The stuffing-mushrooms, zucchini, onions, currants, walnuts and quinoa.

The individual cabbage leaf, turned inside out, before stuffing.

Apple slices over the top add to the magic.

Sweet-n-Sour Tomato Sauce

10 pitted Deglet (small) dates, soaked in water for at least 1 hour (less dates if you are using the larger Medjool variety)
vegetable broth for sauteing
1 cup diced onion
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 14.5 ounce (or 1 28 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, unseasoned (not Italian style)
1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
juice of 1 large lemon
In a medium sauce pan, saute onion over medium heat in a few Tbsp of vegetable broth until translucent. Add garlic, stir and cook for an additional 3 minutes.
While onions are cooking, pour tomato sauce into the bowl of a food processor or high powered blender. Remove soaked dates from liquid and add to sauce. Blend until sauce is smooth.
Add diced tomatoes and tomato/date sauce to onions. Stir in lemon juice. Simmer on very low heat for ten minutes.

Here's a nice video demonstrating how to roll stuffed cabbage:


Do you prepare any special food that takes a long time but is oh-so-worth-it?

Happy Belated Birthday to Me: Cake and Resolution

When my husband asked me what I wanted for my birthday, the only thing I could think of was cake.

I'm a little cake obsessed, which is not a good thing. As the day drew nearer and I could get some distance from my cravings, I decided that the best thing for me to do was bake a Dr. Fuhrman's Healthy Chocolate Cake (you can get that recipe here). I even turned down my extremely thoughtful sister-in-law Kathy's offer to purchase a cake from a local vegan bake shop, because as we all know, just because it's vegan, doesn't mean it's healthy! In the end, I'm really glad  I did.

  

My 41st birthday fell smack in between the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashana (the Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). I spent a great deal of time thinking about the things that I could do better and the ways that I needed to improve. And chewing my food more topped my list.

I'm not a good chewer.

There, I said it.

So what's my deal with chewing? I think I'm kind of always in a rush, and it takes a long time to really chew your food. I also don't like the way my jaw feels after spending a lot of time chewing. It hurts. It's probably a muscle I need to develop just like my flabby abs.

Chewing is important. It slows down the eating process. Which I need to do because overeating is one of my habits. If I chew well and slowly, chances are I would become bored with chewing and stop eating as soon as I felt sated, a great way to not overindulge. 

Chewing well is essential to good digestion and absorption of nutrients. Chewing your food helps break it down before it heads south to your stomach, and the time your food spends in your mouth is valuable for a few reasons.

Your saliva is a powerful weapon when it comes to digestion. It contains enzymes that break down fats and starches that can only go to work if your food is chewed, thus letting your saliva cover more surface area of what you're trying to consume. If you don't chew as well, these enzymes don't have the ability to break down starches (providing you with energy) or start digesting fats (leaving them partially unprocessed). You'll receive less energy and feel more sluggish as a result.

Saliva also helps relax your stomach muscles, allowing pieces of food to pass along the digestive track and without enough mouth juice, things get a little cramped and painful. So next time you think you had too many lentils, maybe you just didn't chew them long enough?

If your food isn't chewed well enough, your body as a result can feel a little bloated and gassy. This can result from large food particles that aren't digested fully and pass through our colon where they become little floating islands for growing bacteria, which creates the smell and bloating on the other end of your meal.

Though it seems like anything we put in our bodies should be fully digested in our stomach and taken care of, that's not always the case. Though it might be processed by our tummies and the rest of the works from there on out, it doesn't mean our bodies are able to extract all that they could from the food. It doesn't do you any good to make healthy eating choices and not be able to receive all the benefits from it. It would be like going to a spa and paying for a full afternoon if bliss and only getting a pedicure.

As a result, it means that each piece of food we put in our bodies should be chewed well. The amount of chews differs for different foods, and whole, real food takes a decent amount of chews. Make sure you take the time to savor what you eat, allowing your body to extract all it can to better itself, while you max out on all that yummy flavor!

Here are some suggestions for improving our chewing: 

1. The first tip, if you tend to be a quick eater, it is for you to try to remember, just slow yourself down. So, if you can put up a little sign where you eat that literally slows you down and chew, that will help you because chewing is such an automatic response that unless we remind it, will go into our natural habits.
2. Another thing that you can do is to take a few relaxing breaths. By that I mean when you are sitting before your food, typically we dive right in and start to eat it. When you are sitting there, take a moment, relax, feel yourself sitting in your chair and take a breath to about three quarters full, hold it for just a moment and then exhale. If you do that three or four times, it will relax your body, it will slow you down and it will give you time to reprogram your mind to chew that food.
3. You don't have to count your chews, since this could interfere with your ability to participate in mealtime conversation, but break down your food with your teeth until it is easily swallowed. If you are very disciplined you might try counting. Give yourself 15 or 22s or if you can get up to 25 even while you are practicing that would be great.
4. Don't put another bite in your mouth until you have chewed the one currently in your mouth � a great habit to prevent mindless overeating.
5. It's easier to completely chew your food if you take smaller bites, so don't shovel mouthfuls in.
6. If you need to use water to wash your bite down, chances are high you didn't completely chew your food. So sip in between bites, not during.
7. Put your fork down in between bites. This simple action helps you slow down and truly focus on the food that is in your mouth. Instead of shoveling, take a bite put it down and spend some time.  

 

Dr. Fuhrman's Healthy Chocolate Cake

Full of veggies and fruit, it takes a bit of time and effort to make it, but it is oh-so-worth-it. The taste gets even better as it develops it's flavor over time, so make it a few days in advance and refrigerate. How do I know this? Because I've been eating the leftovers since Saturday.

Even Max (3) and Maya (6) like Dr. Fuhrman's Healthy Chocolate Cake when they aren't given the choice of this treat versus some sweet processed crap or something full of white sugar and butter.

Where do you fall? Slow chewer or fast eater??

Have you ever tried to slow your eating down and chew more fully? What was the result?

Tamale Casserole, Revisited and The Beck Diet Solution, Day 9-Select an Exercise Plan

About a week ago I prepared Lindsay S. Nixon's Tamale Casserole from her book The Happy Herbivore. My husband and I definitely thought it was GOOD, but I knew that it could even be better with a boatload more veggies. So I went to town this past weekend and set about making a Tamale Casserole that even Dr. Fuhrman would love.

If you are expecting the cornbread topping to taste like cake, the way an old fashioned cornbread usually does, you will probably be disappointed. This cornbread is made with no fat, so it is a little bit dry, but on top of the moist vegetables, I think it's a great compliment.

HGK's Vegetized (is that a word?) Tamale Casserole

serves a crowd

Printable Recipe

approx. 1/2 cup low sodium vegetable broth

1 large chopped onion

6 garlic cloves, minced

10 ounces mushrooms, chopped

4 cups medium dice zucchini

4 cups chopped greens (kale, collard, beet, etc. or a mix)

1/2 cup of your favorite red salsa

1 1/2 Tbsp Mexican or Southwest spice blend

OR 1 Tbsp chili powder + 1 tsp dried oregano + 1 tsp ground cumin

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup frozen corn (I prefer the Fire Roasted from Trader Joe's)

for the cornbread top:

1 1/2 cups cornmeal

1/2 cup whole wheat flour, either white whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup unsweetened almond or soy or rice milk

1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 cup frozen corn kernels

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place a large saute pan or dutch oven over a medium high flame and coat the bottom of the pan with vegetable broth. As soon as the vegetable broth is bubbling, add the diced onion. Turn the heat down to medium and cook the onions, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes. If onions get too dry, add a touch more vegetable broth as necessary to prevent burning. Add chopped garlic and stir. Cook for two more minutes.

Add mushrooms and stir. Cook until mushrooms begin to release their water.

Add zucchini and stir. Cook for approximately ten minutes.

Add chopped greens and stir. Cook for three minutes. Add salsa and stir.

Add either 1 1/2 Tbsp spice blend or chili powder, oregano and cumin. Stir well.

Add black beans and corn. Stir.

Take vegetable mix off of the heat. Now it's time to mix the cornbread.

Place all dry cornbread ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together all of the wet cornbread ingredients (except for the corn kernels). Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Fold in the corn kernels.

Now assemble the casserole. Pour the vegetable mix into a greased 9"x13" pan. Top with the cornbread mix and spread evenly over the vegetables. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cornbread topping at the center comes out clean. Serve immediately.

If you are serving Vegetized Tamale Casserole as a main course, I think it looks especially professional stacked in two layers.

And now for a Beck update! I am stuck here on Day 9, Select and Exercise Plan. Not because there is anything particularly difficult about this step, but just because my life has been busy as of late! The old me would have been a little agitated, thinking that I wasn't working through the steps fast enough. But now I realize that it is more important to really master the steps, slowly if you have to.

So in that vein, I have a confession to make: I'm not reading my Advantages Response Card twice a day like I am supposed to be doing! Every time my cell phone reminder goes off I think of how busy I am and that I don't have the time to do it. So I am going to reset the timer to go off at two totally different times a day--times where I know I am not going to be in the middle of a lot of other things.

As far as exercise goes, I believe that what Beck says is totally on point. Number 1, we have to schedule exercise like everything else in our lives and make it a major priority. And Number 2, we have to lead active lives and not just rely on the gym to take care of our exercise needs (like parking far away from an entrance to a building and taking stairs).

I know that I have been my most consistent with exercise ever since setting a schedule. In fact, I had a recent schedule change (really a temporary elimination of one form of exercise) and I thought I would make up for it by walking. Well, guess what? I have walked sometimes, but not nearly with the consistency as I would have worked out with a scheduled class. So I'm starting again with more scheduled classes a.s.a.p.!

It's all a learning process and I am a willing student.

How do you get in the most exercise possible? Do you schedule exercise like an appointment? 

What are you struggling with on The Beck Diet Solution? What day are you on right now?

What are you having success with on The Beck Diet Solution?

Updated Energy Soup Recipe and Beck, Day 4, Give Yourself Credit

For those that are participating, how are you all doing with keeping up with reading your response cards and sitting down to eat? I did pretty good with sitting down, better than I have in a long time, but I totally lost it on a grocery shopping trip at Whole Foods with my three kids at 4:30 in the afternoon. I was really hungry, so were they after a long day at camp, and I had gotten all of them a treat (vegan of course, but full of sugar nonetheless).

I proceeded to eat, as I walked around Whole Foods, a full half of one of their treats AND a mess of pretzels that were available for the pickin'.

The old me would have beat myself to hell, figured I could never stick to Eat to Live, and continue for however many days to eat whatever came my way. But the massive problem with that is the stress it causes us. So much stress that we never see the situation for what it is, a learning opportunity. We need to free ourselves of the hate talk and instead, take a deep breath and think about how, next time, things could go differently.

Next time, I can bring apples for all of us to eat before we go into the market. Or maybe there just shouldn't be a next time.

And instead of dwelling on the negatives from yesterday, I can focus on the positives, just like Beck insists that we do. We need to give ourselves credit, in our head, every time we make a good food decision, resist unplanned eating or overeating. Like this, "Wow, Wendy, that was awesome that you resisted eating the &#^$%@ on the kitchen table at work just now! Good going!"

Here's the reason I schlepped my kids to Whole Foods after work and before dinner: I needed mushrooms. I wanted to make a big batch of my Energy Soup. It has been a major weapon in my weight loss arsenal and I cannot remember the last time I made it. For real, that is not winning behavior. But I fixed that yesterday. Credit!

Healthy Girl's Energy Soup
makes 10 servings (2 cups of soup per serving)

Printable Recipe

1 very large yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves if garlic, smashed
vegetable broth for sauteing
8 cups vegetable broth (2 boxes)
6 medium sized zucchini, cut into cubes
1 package mushrooms, cut into chunks if mushrooms are large
3 big handfuls kale, washed and rough chopped
1 bag fresh spinach or 3 big handfuls fresh spinach
Salt and pepper to taste
Other seasoning to taste
12 ounces frozen butternut squash, defrosted

Saute the onion over medium heat in a large soup pot in a few tablespoons of vegetable broth, until translucent and slightly soft. Add more broth as necessary to prevent burning. Add garlic and saute for a few more minutes.

Add the 8 cups of broth, zucchini, and mushrooms. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. Simmer for about 20 minutes or zucchini are soft.

Stir in kale and let it wilt. When kale is wilted, stir in fresh spinach, it will wilt immediately.

Using a hand (immersion) blender, puree the onion-garlic-zucchini-mushroom-spinach mixture until soup reaches your desired consistency. Some will like it completely smooth, others will like to puree about 50% and leave a lot of chunks and texture. It is delicious both ways!

Add the defrosted butternut squash and stir until it is incorporated. Season with salt and pepper and ANY other seasonings you like, to taste. (I use a Southwest spice blend and you can use whatever spice blend you like, there are so many on the market now. My husband likes everything spicy, so we add hot sauce to his.)

How are you going to remember to give yourself credit? I'm going to create a credit account right here, on the right side of my blog. At least once a day, I will edit what is in there and fill it with the good choices that I have made that day.

Here's why giving ourselves credit is so important. Ultimately, if you do it consistently and you never stop doing it, it ends the struggle over eating food that is off plan. You start to feel really, REALLY great (like a natural high) about staying on your plan. Way better than if you gave in and ate the junk. I know it sounds hard to believe, but this happened for me, and I was able to walk right by the stuff I didn't want to eat and feel so great about doing it.

It's a very important skill to master. So how are you going to remember to give yourself credit throughout the day?

What have you done today that you can give yourself credit for?